1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus included in, for example, a printer, copying machine, multi function peripheral (MFP), and the like, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, some copying machines have not only a function of copying documents but also a function of executing a print job received from an external client. Furthermore, some copying machines have a function of digitally transmitting a scanned document to an external device using an e-mail or file transfer function. A copying machine having these functions is called an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral).
When peripheral devices such as a copying machine, MFP, printer, and the like and, especially, an output device, are used, one may ask a third party for a use charge of the peripheral device. For example, this is the case in which an advertising agency or law firm asks a customer for an actual cost of a work which was done based on a request from the customer.
Conventionally, an accounting system which calculates an actual cost is available (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-316458). In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-316458, an actual cost is calculated as follows. (1) A server manages a correspondence table of user IDs and account IDs of authorized accounting destinations, and accounting information for each accounting account. Clients and peripheral devices can add, delete, and update a management table and accounting information.
(2) Prior to printing, the client requests the server to issue a job ticket indicating authorization of printing. A job ticket issuance request includes the user ID and account ID of an accounting destination.
(3) The server which received the job ticket issuance request looks up the correspondence table to check whether or not to authorize accounting for an account of the accounting destination. If accounting is authorized, the server issues a job ticket to the client.
(4) The client transmits the job ticket issued by the server to a peripheral device.
(5) The peripheral device confirms if the job ticket is an authentic one issued by the server. If the job ticket is an authentic one, the peripheral device executes printing, and charges to the account ID described in the job ticket.
However, in the aforementioned related art, the server which manages the account IDs of accounting destinations and the correspondence table, and issues a job ticket to each client need be installed. In order to install and maintain the server, labor for management and electricity and seat costs are required.
The account IDs and correspondence table managed by the server require maintenance and repair according to addition, deletion, or the like of accounting destinations, thus requiring labor for maintenance.